Legal career

In 1967, Pillay became the first woman to open her own law practice in Natal Province.[1] She says she had no other alternative: "No law firm would employ me because they said they could not have white employees taking instructions from a coloured person".[4] As a non-white lawyer under the Apartheid regime, she was not allowed to enter a judge's chambers.[4]

During her 28 years as a lawyer in South Africa, she defended anti-Apartheid activists[8] and helped expose the use of torture[8] and poor conditions of political detainees.[4] When her husband was detained under the Apartheid laws, she successfully sued to prevent the police from using unlawful methods of interrogation against him.[3] In 1973, she won the right for political prisoners on Robben Island, including Nelson Mandela, to have access to lawyers.[5] She co-founded the Advice Desk for the Abused and ran a shelter for victims of domestic violence. As a member of the Women’s National Coalition, she contributed to the inclusion in South Africa’s Constitution of an equality clause prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of race, religion and sexual orientation. In 1992, she co-founded the international women's rights group Equality Now.

Her tenure on the High Court was short, however, as she was soon elected by the United Nations General Assembly to serve as a judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).[4][9] She served for eight years, including four years as president.[9] She was the only female judge for the first four years of the tribunal.[10] Her tenure on the ICTR is best remembered for her role in the landmark trial of Jean Paul Akayesu, which established that rape and sexual assault could constitute acts of genocide.[7][10][11][12] Pillay said in an interview, "From time immemorial, rape has been regarded as spoils of war. Now it will be considered a war crime. We want to send out a strong signal that rape is no longer a trophy of war."[11]

In February 2003, she was elected to the first ever panel of judges of the International Criminal Court and assigned to the Appeals Division.[9] She was elected to a six-year term, but resigned in August 2008 in order to take up her position with the UN.

In May 2009, following the end of the Sri Lankan Civil War, Pillay called for an investigation into alleged violations of human rights by both sides.[15] In June 2009, Sri Lankan Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe expressed concerns that Pillay's statements were making it difficult for Sri Lanka to engage in dialogue with the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.